Out Fox The $treet

Summary Helmerich & Payne is positioned to continue stealing market share from competitors struggling to produce profits. The stock is bottoming along with the domestic drilling rig demand. Helmerich & Payne is positioned to lead the rebound with a fleet of modern land drilling rigs and the ability to consolidate the space.    The domestic drilling market remains under pressure, but Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP ) is positioned to benefit from a pending rebound. The stock is down roughly 50% from the peak near $115 providing an interesting entry point for new investors around $65. Over the last year, the stock has collapsed similar to the price of oil.   Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please the disclaimer page for more details.

Seadrill Limited ( NYSE: SDRL     ) plunged over 6% when the company announced a quarterly dividend hike by $0.04 to $0.95, or 4.3%. Typically a dividend hike is greeted with positive stock returns, but in this case investors appear more concerned by other issues in the sector. Seadrill is a global leader in offshore drilling with a fleet of modern, high-specification rigs. The company is a serial deal maker with a 77.5% ownership of Seadrill Partners ( NYSE: SDLP     ) and a recent deal to acquire the majority of Sevan Drilling. The addition of Sevan during the quarter added operating costs that reduced the bottom line. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long ATW. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

For investors who only read the earnings headlines, a ton of additional information can usually be gleaned by reading the details of the earnings report and comparing to competitors. For investors interested in the domestic land-drilling market, Helmerich & Payne ( NYSE: HP     ) happens to be one of the better providers of useful numbers. The driller had some encouraging signs on new rig orders and increasing rig revenue per day, but the numbers show more stability than growth. As with Patterson-UTI Energy ( NASDAQ: PTEN     ) and Nabors Industries ( NYSE: NBR     ) , the troubling sign continues to be that customers want the new rigs at the expense of idled rigs. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

With the gains in drilling-rig efficiency limiting demand, are the glory days over for Helmerich & Payne ( NYSE: HP     ) ? According to this WSJ article , the company and the CEO are credited with developing the next-generation drilling rigs used to create the U.S. energy boom. With oil above $100, one would expect a driller to trade well. The domestic land-drilling market, however, has faced lower drilling-rig demand due to plunging natural gas prices and more importantly the dramatically improved efficiencies gained in the last couple of years. The stock is sitting close to all-time highs. Now investors must analyze whether future natural gas export demand and possible demand from Mexico can offset a weak domestic climate. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Prior to June 5, Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP ) was seen as a solidly run contract drilling firm with a small dividend. The company made a surprising announcement that it would dramatically increase the yield making the stock interesting for the yield now. Or maybe it wasn’t that surprising considering the expected influx of cash and a strong balance sheet. The company operates primarily as a contract drilling firm with more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Part I of this series focused on the continual reduction of rigs exploring for natural gas in the domestic U.S. lower 48. All the while, commodity prices continue to surge upward with futures prices even higher. This third part will focus on the oil service providers that will benefit from what could become surging demand for services work as both oil and natural gas producers scramble for available crews. As mentioned in Part I, the Baker Hughes (BHI) rig report on October 12th showed an interesting divergence with the commodity markets. While natural gas has jumped some 60% in the past few months, the amount of rigs drilling for natural gas plunged to lows not seen since 1999. On the October 19th report, the natural gas rig count increased 5 up to 427. A year ago, the count was 927. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long CJES, HEK, WFT. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Part I of this series focused on the continual reduction of rigs exploring for natural gas in the domestic U.S. lower 48. All the while, commodity prices continue to surge upward with futures prices even higher. This second part will focus on the natural gas producers that will benefit from the surging prices and the potential that a great majority of the rigs needed to increase production are tied up with oil drilling. As mentioned in Part I, the Baker Hughes (BHI) rig report on Friday showed an interesting divergence with the commodity markets. While natural gas has jumped some 60% in the past few months, the amount of rigs drilling for natural gas has plunged to lows not seen since 1999. In the last week, the natural gas rig count dropped another 15 to only 422. Last year, the count was 936. Recently Forbes released an article describing the depletion curve in the Eagle Ford as higher than expected. Not only does this change the investment thesis on some of the shale plays, but it ...

The Baker Hughes (BHI) rig report on Friday showed an interesting divergence with the commodity markets. While natural gas has jumped some 60% in the past few months, the amount of rigs drilling for natural gas has plunged to lows not seen since 1999. In the last week, the natural gas rig count dropped another 15 to only 422. Last year, the count was 936. For investors expecting that exploration companies can quickly turn on the drilling spigot, one needs to note the most concerning part of the report is that the percentage of rigs drilling for natural gas is the lowest ever at 23%. The concern is that limited rigs and service personnel might exist for a rebound in demand. This is the first part of a series focusing on the potential beneficiaries and losers of a pending spike in natural gas prices while most of the available drilling rigs are focused on oil. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long CJES, HEK, WFT. Please review the disclaimer page for more d...